Kentucky Derby Future Wager: Field 4-5; Honor Code 10-1

Let me know what you think of Churchill Downs' new late-November poll for the Kentucky Derby Future Wager. Email me at jrees@courier-journal.com or send me a tweet @CJ_Jennie or comment on my Facebook page(s).

Personally, I think it's $200,000-plus in wagering that they didn't have before. What's it hurt? Serious bettors, with justification, might poo-pah any horse being 10-1 at this point to even make the race, let alone win. But, as with the Las Vegas future books, this is not about betting the favorite. This is about trying to find a horse who is 80-1 that you like. (And I know it's hard to get a lot of big prices with only 23 individual horses.

But I will buy into as legit Churchill's long-held contention that the cost of the software to add more horses -- remember, this is pari-mutuel -- plus considerations with simulcasting outlets being able to take more horses.

If you don't like the bet, don't bet it. If enough people don't bet it, Churchill will drop it. But that's not been the case. Enough people do like playing it to justify the Derby Future Wager. One thing they might look at is not having the exacta offered next November. See below:

The mutuel field encompassing “all of the 3-year-olds” closed as the prohibitive 4-5 favorite in Churchill Downs’ new November Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool where fans try to pick the winner for the 140th edition of the Run for the Roses in May.

Betting in the four-day pool ended Saturday afternoon. Honor Code was the 10-1 favorite among the 23 individual horses in the pool, backing it up with a stirring victory over Cairo Prince in Aqueduct’s Remsen minutes after betting on the future wager ended. Cairo Prince went off at 26-1.

Honor Code is trained by Kentucky product Shug McGaughey, who won the 2013 Derby with Orb.

The only other individual horses at 25-1 or less in the betting were Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner New Year’s Day (15-1) and his stablemate Tap It Rich (25-1).

A total of $273,174 was wagered in the first Derby Future Wager pool held this early. The traditional three pools, each three days, will be staged Feb. 6-8, Feb. 27-Mar. 1 and Mar. 27-29. The only Kentucky Oaks Future Wager will be Feb. 27-Mar. 1.

Of the betting, $35,096 was bet on the exacta. The earliness of the pool raises an interesting situation if neither of the top two finishers of the 2014 Kentucky Derby are among Pool 1’s individual horses, since Kentucky regulations do not allow for a No. 24 (the field) over No. 24 bet in the future exacta.

According to Churchill officials, in that case, all those betting the mutuel field on top in the Pool 1 exacta will receive a consolation payoff – because they picked the winner (“all other 3-year-olds”) and no one would have had it with the second-place horse.